Sweetie And Doll Face
by VampireGoil
Summary: It's what one might call a 'love-hate' relationship. Each wanted the other, but both too caught up in their own confidence to notice.
1. Prologue

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

_**disclaimer ~ yes i know, i don't own Newsies or any of the characters in it. Flame however, is a character that i created**_

She walked with her head held high. Her red hair flying behind her like flames, she could drive all the boys crazy, and knew how to use it.

He was supposed to be the coolest of the cool. He could have any girl he wanted, they all threw themselves at him. Well, all of them except her. She liked to toy with him, use his conficence against him. She made his blood boil to extremes, and she loved it.

It's what one might call a 'love-hate' relationship. Each wanted the other, but both too caught up in their own confidence to notice. Everyone around them saw it, there were even a few bets going around about how long it was going to be before they got together.

They rolled their eyes. They could never be together they thought, never in a million years.


	2. Sucking Face in Brooklyn

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

**_disclaimer ~ Newsies is not mine, i do not own them. The only original character is Flame_  
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Spot walked out of the Brooklyn Lodging House and was immediately greeted by the sight of his female newsie, Flame, in full lip-lock with a Manhattan newsboy. Now normally, Spot would have patted his friend on the back for getting a girl, especially one as attractive as her, but he knew how she worked. This wasn't the first newsie she'd been with, and it CERTIANLY wasn't going to be the last.

That's just how Flame was. She was a good-looking girl, all the boys were just drawn to her. She wasn't shy about it either. She enjoyed the attention, some might even say she needed it. But none of the boys really complained about it, perhaps the just liked having the attention without dealing with commitment.

"Hey you two" Spot yelled to them "planning on stopping to breathe any time soon?"

The pair broke apart, Flame threw a death glare in his direction. Spot simply rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the Manhattan boy, who was slowly but surely turning the color of a tomato.

"So Race, any reason you came here? You know, besides trying to suck-face with my newsies?"

"Yeah, um…" Race stammered, not only embarrassed but feeling the anger between the two Brooklyn newsies "…yeah. Jack wanted me to tell you that he's having a poker night tonight, and you guys are all invited."

"Ok that sounds great" Spot said, then continued by waving Race away "Now why don't you run along back across the bridge and tell Jacky-Boy I'll see him tonight."

Race seemed to be relieved that he was told to leave, especially because Spot and Flame were shooting very nasty looks. As he turned to leave though, Flame grabbed him by the shirt collar and planting another kiss on him. "I'll see you tonight Race." She said to him, still holding him very close. Race nodded at her and, after throwing one more frightened glance at Spot, headed towards the bridge.

Flame turned to face Spot "What's your problem?" she spat at him "Do you enjoy scaring every guy that comes here? Or is it just ruining my day that's fun?"

"Why can't it be both?" Spot said, a smirk forming on his face. "And really, Racetrack? Out of all the Manhattan boys? Really?"

"Maybe I think Italians are very attractive."

"Well, two weeks ago, you said you thought eye-patches were attractive"

"They are. I can think more than one thing is attractive."

"Seems to me you just think any boy is attractive."

"Seems to me, you're at tad jealous."

"As if."

She rolled her eyes at him "I'll be in my room" she said, pushing past him to get inside the lodging house "I'll be out when we're headed to the poker game."

"Oh good, I can't wait" Spot said, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

"Alright, I'll see you then Sweetie" He heard her door slam shut.

_Good God did he hate it when she called him that._

_**So, what do you think so far? Reviews maybe? Please(:**_


	3. The Poker Game

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

**_disclaimer ~ So yeah, Newsies, i do not own them. Flame is the only original character in this story_  
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"Come on Flame! You're gonna make us late!" Spot called up the stairs. Flame came down the stairs, and Spot immediately noticed she had not fully buttoned her shirt.

"You gonna finish putting your shirt on?" he spat at her

"It is on actually." She spat back at him before pushing past him and heading out the door.

Flame honestly didn't understand why Spot cared so much about what she wore. He was always parading his 'conquests' around the lodging house, much a lot worse than not having the top two buttons on their shirt closed. It was such a double standard, he was always chasing after easy girls that flaunted their body, why did it matter if she wanted to show herself off a bit? It's her body, and it's not like she was his girl or anything, why was it his concern?

As if Spot thought that night was bad already, the second they got to the lodging house, Flame threw herself at Race and planted a very deep kiss on his lips. He also noticed that Kid Blink looked very uncomfortable, even having to get up and leave the room.

That's what pissed Spot off the most, Flame didn't even seem to care about the affect she had on everyone. She threw herself at all of the Manhattan boys, got bored, and then moved on to the next. She didn't even consider how uncomfortable she was making all of them; either that or she was doing it on purpose. Yes, he admitted that he had been with more than his fare share of girls, but he didn't get with a girl and then go for her friend. That would just be cruel; he had even turned down a girl once because she was friends with an ex of his. And then here was Flame, only getting with boys from one lodging house and making them all feel awkward. He didn't quite understand why it made him so mad all the time, it's not like she's sleeping around with the Brooklyn boys. If anything it was better that she stayed away from all of them. But still, something inside him made him so incredibly angry when he saw this happening.

As the night wore on, the boys slowly lost their interest in the poker game. Eventually the only people actually playing were Spot, Racetrack, and Flame. It was pretty clear that Spot was getting no attention from the other two. Race was too focused on staring at Flame's chest, which she was obviously trying to stick out. And, he supposed he really couldn't comment though, he was looking too. Wait…why was he looking?

_'It's not like she has a disgusting chest'_ the voice inside Spot's head said _'And I mean, she's the one putting it out there….'_

"Spot!" an aggravated voice called, removing him from his thoughts "You in?"

Spot raised his eyes to meet those of a very unhappy Flame, impatiently awaiting his answer. "Um..no. I fold" he said, dropping his cards and getting up from the table.

"Hey Sweetie" he heard her call after him, venom dripping from her voice

"Yeah?"

"Next time, keep your eyes to yourself. Maybe you'll do better in the game."

He could feel his cheeks turning red. Without looking back, Spot pushed past the other boys to go outside, offering only "I need a smoke" as an answer to anyone who tried to talk to him.

Once outside, Spot lit his cigarette and leaned against the brick wall. Closing his eyes and inhaling the smoke, he tried to sort out his thoughts.

_'Why do you care so much? She's the one going around flaunting her body. If she wants to act like that, it's not your problem!'_ his inner voice shouted at him.

"I don't know" he replied out loud "But she doesn't have to do it in front of me like that."

_'How do you know she's doing it for your benefit?' he questioned himself 'She's trying to get under your skin, you can't let her get to you. She wants to play like that? Well, two can play that game.'_

Straightening his cap, and dropping his cigarette, he took a deep breath. Finally calming himself, he stomped out his cigarette and marched back into the lodging house.

"Alright Brooklyn!" he called "We're done, let's go!"

With a collective groan, the Brooklyn newsies slowly began getting up. Well, all of them except for Flame. She was too busy with Racetrack.

" Come on! Off your lazy butts, let's get moving!" Spot continued to yell as he walked around the lodging house, until he was standing directly behind Flame. "That means you too."

Flame turned to face him, anger and defiance flashing in her eyes "I don't feel like going" she stated, daring him to argue "It's too early"

"Well, fine then" Spot replied, leaning down to her eye level "You can walk home alone. And I expect you to be up bright and early tomorrow hawking headlines."

"Sure thing Sweetie."

And with that, Spot stood up and walked away. But Flame wasn't concerned; he pulled stuff like this all the time. He'd walk away, wait by the door for five minutes, and then come back and ask her to leave again.

"I'm leaving. Goodbye." He called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, ok." She called back "Whatever you say Sweetie."

"See you in the morning Doll Face"

Flame whipped around "What did you just call me?" she asked, looking about ready to tackle him. But Spot didn't reply; he strolled right on out of lodging house, smiling triumphantly to himself, and didn't even look back.

Race scooted his chair close to Flame "You know" he said, snaking his arms around her waist "if you want to spend the night here, there's plenty of room in my bed."

Jack came up behind them and yanked Race's chair back, tipping him on to the ground. "Not while you're sharing a bunk with us there isn't!" Jack yelled at him.  
>This of course caused much mayhem amongst the Manhattan newsboys. Flame normally would have joined in on the jokes, but she didn't even seem to notice, her full attention was focused on the doorway. He had walked away, left her alone.<p>

Jack, noticing her distraction, pulled himself away from the ruckus and approached her. "You ok there?" he asked.

"Um, yeah I" she tried to reply "I should probably go. He…he was right. I should um…yeah I should go."

"That's a good idea. Do you want someone to go with you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"It's so weird, I didn't think he would actually leave this time."

_Yeah. Neither did she._

_**A/N ~ so you like it so far? What are your thoughts? I hope you're enjoying it. Reviews are much appreciated, thanks(:**_


	4. A Little More Payback

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

_**Disclaimer ~ I don't own them, I wish I did, but I don't**_**  
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Flame made sure to get up extra early the next morning, just to prove a point to Spot. He was already up too of course, waiting to continue his payback. He heard her wandering around the washroom and then, dropping his shirt on the hallway floor, waltzed into the room and planted himself at the sink right next to her.

"Good morning Dollface" he said casually.

She looked over to him, rolling her eyes when she noticed his lack of clothing "and you gave me crap about my shirt last night"

"What? We're all bunkmates here" Spot said while reaching over her to grab his razor "we can all be comfortable around each other, right?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Flame said, trying to brush him off. She tried to force herself to look away, but here eyes kept wandering back to him.

"Enjoying the view?" Spot asked, a cocky smile growing on his face.

"No, I'm just trying to figure out why you bother shaving. Only men grow facial hair Sweetie" She responded, walking out of the washroom.

'God! Who does he think he is?' she thought to herself 'He always walks around like he's the most attractive man on earth. Like, he's always trying to prove himself to everyone.'

Well, she guessed she couldn't complain that much, she did kind of enjoy seeing Spot without a shirt. She wasn't going to pretend he wasn't attractive, she just wasn't attracted to him.

_'Oh stop lying to yourself!'_ her inner voice hissed _'You know that's not true'_

"I can't even think like that." She muttered to herself "I need some fresh air"

* * *

><p>Walking out of the washroom Spot picked up his shirt, Flame still on his mind. Sure she had walked away from him, but he had clearly caught her staring. But why did he care so much anyway? So what if she thought he had a nice body, every girl did. Why did he need her approval anyway?<p>

_'Just stop it!'_ his inner voice scolded him_ 'You know very well why you need her approval. And you're just going to let her walk away angry with you?'_

Spot sighted, he hated when his inner voice was right. He finished buttoning his shirt and headed out of the lodging house.

"I'm really gonna regret this later" he muttered. Then, taking a deep breath, he broke into a jog "Hey Flame! Wait up!"

_**A/N ~ my apologies for this chapter being so late! i promise i have already started working on the next one**_


	5. Acting On Impulse

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

_**disclaimer: you all know the drill. i don't own them, i wish i did, blah blah blahhhh**_

"Hey Flame! Wait up!"

Flame stopped, sighing to herself, but didn't turn around. What in the world could he possibly want now?

"Flame…hey…I"

"What do you want Conlon?" she asked, turning around to face him. She noticed immediately there was something different about his eyes. There was a look in his eyes that she didn't recognize, there was no anger or coldness is his eyes, he almost looked nervous.

"I um just…well I just wanted to um…just wanted to say…" Spot began to stutter. His mind couldn't stop racing, what the hell was he doing to himself? She had been mad at him hundreds of times before, and had always gotten over it quickly, so why was this time so different? More importantly, why was it so hard for him just to say he was sorry and he didn't want her to be mad at him? As prideful as he was, he was more than willing to apologize for something if he knew he was wrong.

"You just wanted to say what?"

"Just that I..I'm glad you made it home ok last night." Well, it wasn't exactly what he had wanted to say to her, but he knew that was probably the best he was going to get out.

"Um, thanks." Flame said, looking at the ground "I mean, I've walked further at night before but…um yeah thanks."

"Oh I know you have" Spot said quickly, trying to say something that would explain what he was trying to say "I just worry, you know? A girl such as yourself walking around New York alone at night, something really bad could…"

"A girl such as myself?" Flame spat defensively "I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Believe it or not, not every girl is like those pathetic, wimpy, obnoxious girls that you hang around all the time!"

"No, that's not what I meant by…"

"Save it Conlon! I don't need your pity." And with that, she stormed away, leaving Spot feeling very confused.

What he wanted to say was that he cared about her, a lot, and he was terrified at the thought of something happening to her. Why was it so easy for him to talk to other girls? And why was it so easy for other boys to talk to her?

'Dam' he thought to himself 'this girl is going to be the death of me.'

* * *

><p>By the time Flame had sold all of her papes, the sun was beginning to set. She knew that Spot would be expecting her back at the lodging house soon, and she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him right now. There was something about him today that she couldn't figure out, it was like he was trying to be nice to her. It wasn't like him at all, he was never like that. And the thing that scared her the most, she liked that he was being so nice to her. But it was so wrong, this was Spot Conlon, she hated him…well she thought she did. Besides, did it really matter if she did like him? He could get any girl he wanted, and they all threw themselves at him. The best thing she could think of was to get him completely out of her head, she had plenty of other guys that wanted to be with her anyways.<p>

As coincidence would have it while lost in thought Flame had wandered toward the Manhattan lodging house, where Race was outside smoking a cigar.

"Hey there" Race said, approaching her and kissing her "I missed you last night, none of us even saw you leave"

"Yeah sorry" Flame said, trying to think of a good excuse "I wasn't feeling that great…so I figured I might as well leave you guys to have your fun"

"Well I missed you a lot. I was really hoping that you were gonna, you know, spend the night."

Flame grabbed Race by the shirt collar and, kissing him so hard that his cigar dropped to the ground, began pulling him towards Brooklyn.

"Well, there's always tonight" she said "And you know, being the only girl newsie in Brooklyn has its perks. I have my own room."

Pulling a more than willing Race behind her, Flame pushed all thoughts of reason out of her mind. Her brain was screaming at her that this was a terrible idea, but she didn't stop to think.

_One way or another, she was going to get Spot Conlon off her mind._


	6. Pushed To The Limit

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

_**disclaimer - unfortunately, i don't own newsies**_

Spot didn't return to the lodging house at his usual time, he was out on the docks thinking. He couldn't get his mind off of Flame. Why couldn't he act like himself around her? Why didn't she like him like the other girls? Why did he even care that she didn't like him? He was also worried, she hadn't returned to the lodging house. He figured she was staying in Manhattan for the night or something, probably too mad to be around him. With a sigh he left his perch at the docks and headed towards the lodging house, he would deal with these feelings in the morning.

As Spot closed the door to his room, he couldn't help but hear something from down the hall. It sounded like a girl giggling. Now this he was not in the mood for, this was not the first time one of his boys had tried to sneak a girl in, and they were not going to be happy when he was through with them. He stormed down the hall to the boys' room, his anger already rising.

"All right!" He yelled, turning on the lights "Which one of you is the wise guy who…" He froze. There were no girls in there, all he saw was his boys waking up and looking confused and very unhappy, they were mostly groaning about the unexpected wake-up.

"Oh sorry" he said, looking around the room "I thought that I heard…"

"Race stop that tickles!"

"Shhh be quiet, you'll wake up the guys."

The Brooklyn newsies fell silent, all eyes were on their leader. Spot's mind was racing, a knot of anger tightening in his stomach. He stormed across the hall without thinking, and threw open the door to the Flames room.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he screamed. Race immediately jumped out of Flame's bed and started adjusting his clothes. Flame, who was more irritated than embarrassed, went right up to Spot while fixing her shirt.

"What's your problem Conlon?" she spat at him

"Well Doll Face, if you're going to act like a whore, I would prefer you do it someplace other than my lodging house."

"Act like a what?"

"You heard me."

"Oh, and this is so much worse than you bringing home a different girl every week?"

"I'm in charge here, I can do whatever I want. So just…"

"Oh, so this is a pride thing isn't it? You can do whatever you want with whoever want but god forbid…"

"Will you just…"

"Well I can tell you where you can stick your dam pride!"

"Will you just SHUT UP!" Spot screamed. By this point, everyone had gathered in the hallway to watch. The two stood there, face to face, shaking with anger, glaring at each other. There was tension in the air, everyone could feel it. The Brooklyn boys looked from Flame and Spot to Race, who was slowly backing out of the room and trying to avoid involvement in the argument.

"I don't know who you think you are" Spot continued, so close to Flame that their noses were almost touching, "But I'm in charge, so don't give me your back-talk. Now if you and your Manhattan boy of the week want to get out of MY lodging house, you can do whatever the hell you want. So why don't you just get your trampy butt out of here because frankly I…"

_SMACK!_

Everyone froze, Flame didn't even realize what she had done until Spot had reeled back. She was shaking still, but now with fear, not anger.

"Spot…I…I'm sorry…" She stammered "I didn't mean to…I was just…you were…and then…I'm sorry."

"Get out" he said, not looking at her. There was no anger in his voice, it was just cold and empty.

"What?"

"I said get out. Goodbye. Go. Leave. Don't come back. I don't want to see you ever again. Just GET OUT!"

So she left, she ran out of that lodging house. She ran fast, and didn't stop until she reached the other side of the bridge. Running her hands through her hair she tried to process what she had done. She sat down on the ground, closed her eyes, and tried to wrap her head around what she had done, and what she could possibly do about it now

'Wow' she thought to herself 'I've really done it this time, haven't I?'


	7. Realizations

**Sweetie and Doll Face**

_**disclaimer ~ I don't own Newsies or any of the characters, the only one I created is Flame**_

Flame awoke the next morning to find herself in the Manhattan lodging house. She was confused at first but then, remembering the events of the previous night she figured one of the Manhattan boys had brought her hear, and her confusion slowly turned to dread. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't go back to Brooklyn, but all her stuff was there. And she certainly didn't want to stay in Manhattan. What about Spot? And Race? Oh poor Race, she dragged him into the middle of all this…and for what? Because she stupidly acted on impulse. Because she didn't control herself. Because she was too busy being a stupid little…

"Hey" a voice pulled her out of her thoughts. It was Blink.

"Oh…hi" she responded. Great, she thought, another guy who I screwed up with.

"You ok?"

"Umm…yeah. I was out walking last night and I got tired…I only meant to rest for a minute but I guess."

"Race brought you here. He told us what happened."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Silence fell. It was kind of funny though, Blink didn't seem mad at her. A little bit sad and uncomfortable, but not how she thought he'd react to her trying to sleep with one of his friends. Here she was, getting what she knew she deserved, and he was asking if she was ok.

"Blink…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Flame…don't be. Really it's…"

"No! No, it's not ok. I was terrible to you. You were nothing but sweet to me and I used you. I took advantage of you, of all of you. Honestly I don't even understand why you're here talking to me, you probably hate me. You and Race, and..oh god Race. He won't ever want to see me again..I…"

"Flame, I'm fine. Race is fine. We're all fine. I'm not mad at you, nobody hates you."

"What? Why not?"

"You think we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into? None of us dated you to have a long term relationship, we know you're not the relationship type and honestly, neither are we. We dated you because thought you were cute and fun, we thought we'd have a good time and we did. When I dated you, I wasn't planning on falling in love or marrying you, I just wanted to have fun and get to know you better."

"So none of you hate me?"

"No, of course not."

Flame breathed a sigh of relief, it made her feel a lot better knowing that not everybody in the world hated her.

"So if you guys don't hate me…then is it possible for me to stay here?"

"Well yeah, but only until you and Spot cool down. Kloppman doesn't like girls staying here."

"I'm not sure if it's gonna cool down this time. I thought Race told you what happened."

"Yeah, he said you guys got in a huge fight."

"I slapped him."

"You what?"

"I slapped him. Across the face."

"Ok forget what I said before. I love you, marry me?"

Flame couldn't help but laugh. Even though she couldn't stay in Manhattan permanently she could at least crash there until she figured out what to do next. She'd go back to Brooklyn tonight and get her stuff after all the boys were asleep.


End file.
